If you live in an area that is prone to flooding then you need to ensure that you protect your home and your assets. Floods are very devastating events and can cause significant disruption if you are not prepared for them. This article will step through the available strategies you can use to minimize flood damage. The flood protection methods that will be discussed are flood barriers that include sandbags, glass storefront barriers, automatic gates, levees, and hinged floodgates.
Sandbags. Sandbags are one of the easiest forms of protection to deploy on short notice. They can be deployed in widely varying locations and can be used to patch up weaknesses identified in your network of flood protection mechanisms. If a community is threatened then a group effort can go into putting up a sandbag wall so as to protect the community. These are not long term in nature and so should be used primarily in situations where a flood is impending and weakness is identified.
Glass Storefront Barriers. Glass storefront barriers are effective at keeping class out of a structure when the water begins rising. Such glass needs to be certified to be strong enough to resist an oncoming flood. Floodwaters put tremendous pressure on the glass and so weak glass can shatter. The sealant around such glass also needs to be well maintained otherwise the barrier may be defeated via cracks around the glass. This solution provides good long-term protection.
Automatic Gates. Automatic Gates are especially useful as they don’t require human intervention. These gates can react to rising water and deploy automatically using the force of the water for power. These are helpful when unexpected flooding occurs and there is no advanced preparation time; they’re extremely useful for underground parking structures at hospitals, apartment high-rises and office buildings. Automatic gates allow emergency personnel to focus on other life-saving measures also as they are not spending their time putting gates or other barriers in place.
Levee. A levee is a type of flood protection usually used by a town or city with a river. A levee is a more natural solution where a sloped wall is made to maintain the waters of a river. It can also be manmade, using sandbags or other means to build a type of wall to ensure that if water levels become too high, the waters will not overflow. A levee is also not completely foolproof. An example of that case could be attributed to the catastrophe of Katrina in New Orleans, Louisiana. However, using a levee is common in cities where rivers are present.
Hinged Flood Gates. Hinged floodgates are similar to door but they provide tight seals and heavy-duty materials. These devices can either be installed in front of an ordinary door or in place of one. They can be left open most of the time and closed upon risk of floods.
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